The way these games were handled makes it clear that ESPN has a problem with “star treatment” in niche sports.

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It would be nice to think that ESPN can avoid an excessive focus on names (in any sport) and devote more energy to covering the whole of a sport itself. This is the kind of coverage grown-up sports fans want.

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When ESPN clearly abandons coverage of the sport for a focus on celebrity or ratings-magnet entities (such as UConn women’s basketball to the exclusion or diminishment of lesser-known programs), mature sports fans notice.

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However, ESPN is in a position to lead by example. If ESPN devoted itself to covering the sport and not just its stars, we’d have been able to see much more of Louisville-South Florida and UALR-Arizona State, two far more interesting games with far more exciting stretch runs. ESPN could choose to be a trend-changer and pace-setter in sports. It instead makes decisions which reflect a continuing captivity to what will bump up ratings points. That’s one issue.

I have to run over to Bristol and apply for the job of mopping up all that drool.

The question I have is why does anyone expect ESPN to treat wcbb any differently than they and all the other media that covers sports treat every other sport? Worshiping stars is what they all do. It's amusing how those that want women's basketball to get equal treatment are unhappy when they get exactly that. The money that pumps through sports comes for the most part from advertisers and advertisers want stars to put on the front of their cereal boxes and endorse their deodorants. Look at college football. For the most part national coverage focuses on the half dozen Heisman Trophy candidates to the exclusion of the thousand of athletes that participate. Team coverage is mostly speculation about which 4 of 10 teams will make the championship playoffs. The coverage of pro basketball is more of the same except that as much time is spent examining the players private lives as their performance on the court.

You want women in the WNBA to earn multi-million dollar salaries? Then you have to put up with baggage that in addition to the above includes dealing with the corruption that comes from having billions of dollars gambled on the games.

People need to stop for a moment and realize that ESPN gives them an opportunity to watch any wcbb tournamnt game from start to finish on-line. Yeah, the wraparound coverage can be frustrating but then I can remember having to listen to the mens games on radio. The complaining reminds me of a kid with a candy bar whining because they don't have an ice cream cone.

I'm not whining. So far I'm one happy camper...but yeah, bring on the ice cream cone. I too remember listening to bball on the radio (it's a tell on our ages) but we lived so far out in the boonies that I would go with my Dad in his pickup to a mountain top so we could get reception on his radio...It was way better after dark.

But I do reserve the right to whine and gripe later on...

_________________“Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.”
― Maya Angelou

I'm not whining. So far I'm one happy camper...but yeah, bring on the ice cream cone. I too remember listening to bball on the radio (it's a tell on our ages) but we lived so far out in the boonies that I would go with my Dad in his pickup to a mountain top so we could get reception on his radio...It was way better after dark.

But I do reserve the right to whine and gripe later on...

No "reservations" needed for you, Myrtle-Mae. Those rights are fully accorded by your .... experience [read: Age] (I'm surprised they even had pickups in your youth. )

I'm not whining. So far I'm one happy camper...but yeah, bring on the ice cream cone. I too remember listening to bball on the radio (it's a tell on our ages) but we lived so far out in the boonies that I would go with my Dad in his pickup to a mountain top so we could get reception on his radio...It was way better after dark.

But I do reserve the right to whine and gripe later on...

No "reservations" needed for you, Myrtle-Mae. Those rights are fully accorded by your .... experience [read: Age] (I'm surprised they even had pickups in your youth. )

The games of most interest to me have GG, so all's good here.

model T's had a pickup model in 1925...

_________________“Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.”
― Maya Angelou

It appears that DirecTV will be showing each individual NCAA Women's Tournament game in its entirety at channels 788-791 or thereabouts.

Saved from whiparound coverage!

Dish appears to be doing something as well (on 145-148) although it's not clear if it's every game since they also say you can get all the games by paying for ESPN Full Court on 462-465 (for $79). Too pricey for me so hoping I'll get at least some options on 145-148.

_________________“Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.”
― Maya Angelou

It appears that DirecTV will be showing each individual NCAA Women's Tournament game in its entirety at channels 788-791 or thereabouts.

Saved from whiparound coverage!

Dish appears to be doing something as well (on 145-148) although it's not clear if it's every game since they also say you can get all the games by paying for ESPN Full Court on 462-465 (for $79). Too pricey for me so hoping I'll get at least some options on 145-148.

I think DirecTV stopped selling Full Court two or three years ago, so I think this is free, at least for sportspak subscribers.

Interesting to see Thibault and Hughes on the crews as well (have they have been doing other games this season and I just didn't notice?).

Yes they have been. Quite refreshing to hear their perspectives although they are quite PC.

Hughes has been a regular on Big 12 FSN regional broadcasts (tho Thulin and VanLegen a very underrated crew do the FS1 and top games)

Thiebault has been heading up the B crew for BTN with a revolving door of male announcers...Byington and Jones are the A team for BTN and also do some FS1

As for that awful announcing blog...YES YES OMG YES been screaming this for 12 years!!!

Good to see the B team be LaChina...Pasch is the A- (behind only when the superstars choose to do a game) MENS guy...this is no small thing

Also despite that dumb UConn Stands Alone rule (which I KNOW was a be careful what you wish for after fan complaints of no whipping from UConn routs to more competitive games) they are giving the bottom crews to both UConn and Baylor and 4/5 pods are getting the A teams

ALSO: Wischusen who was a mainstay for many years got the boot...MUCH needed his comments at both Richards and of course the infamous and inflammatory comment at Oshaor were both firable offenses...glad to see him removed from WBB games

And also great to see Sunderland moving up the ladder. Sunderland has been putting WORK in on SEC Network...he's EARNED it

_________________"Leave it to the NCAA women's basketball committee to turn a glass slipper into glass ceiling" Graham Hays

I love how the men use four channels for the first round. I wish ESPN would use ESPN2 and ESPNU for the first and second rounds

Yes I love this too - it means I get to watch every game and can pick what is interesting to me. The only problem is I always forget what channel Tru TV is on my cable until the tournament starts again .

At least this year they finally protected all of Wisconsin for the UWGB game - it has been a bummer to me recently that they only protected part of Wisconsin for their games and I didn't get to see them. For some reason in the past, they used to protect all of Wisconsin for Marquette games but not for UWGB.

It appears that DirecTV will be showing each individual NCAA Women's Tournament game in its entirety at channels 788-791 or thereabouts.

Saved from whiparound coverage!

PRAISETHELORDDD! This just made MY day--

Now, my only dilemma is which games, out of any four running at one time, to record. DVR only allows me 2 simultaneous games. 'course, I may just opt to do my own 'whiparound' coverage, going where I like, when I like, but then I gotta watch live. Oh, the dilemmas!

By the way, Art....nothing was listed on those channels beyond Friday's games, i.e., Saturday's lineup. Any idea why?

It appears that DirecTV will be showing each individual NCAA Women's Tournament game in its entirety at channels 788-791 or thereabouts.

Saved from whiparound coverage!

Dish appears to be doing something as well (on 145-148) although it's not clear if it's every game since they also say you can get all the games by paying for ESPN Full Court on 462-465 (for $79). Too pricey for me so hoping I'll get at least some options on 145-148.

I think DirecTV stopped selling Full Court two or three years ago, so I think this is free, at least for sportspak subscribers.

DTV did this during the Olympic games and did not charge even if you fif not have the sport pac. Hope they don't charge for this I'll have to check unless someone finds out before I do and post it.

It appears that DirecTV will be showing each individual NCAA Women's Tournament game in its entirety at channels 788-791 or thereabouts.

Saved from whiparound coverage!

Dish appears to be doing something as well (on 145-148) although it's not clear if it's every game since they also say you can get all the games by paying for ESPN Full Court on 462-465 (for $79). Too pricey for me so hoping I'll get at least some options on 145-148.

I think DirecTV stopped selling Full Court two or three years ago, so I think this is free, at least for sportspak subscribers.

DTV did this during the Olympic games and did not charge even if you fif not have the sport pac. Hope they don't charge for this I'll have to check unless someone finds out before I do and post it.

They show 4 channels for the 4 majors in golf, usually 2 channels of 2 or 3 people groups. In the 4 majors for tennis, they have 6 channels for different courts. I like it because I follow a few "middle tier" players.

I have to run over to Bristol and apply for the job of mopping up all that drool.

The question I have is why does anyone expect ESPN to treat wcbb any differently than they and all the other media that covers sports treat every other sport? Worshiping stars is what they all do. It's amusing how those that want women's basketball to get equal treatment are unhappy when they get exactly that. The money that pumps through sports comes for the most part from advertisers and advertisers want stars to put on the front of their cereal boxes and endorse their deodorants. Look at college football. For the most part national coverage focuses on the half dozen Heisman Trophy candidates to the exclusion of the thousand of athletes that participate. Team coverage is mostly speculation about which 4 of 10 teams will make the championship playoffs. The coverage of pro basketball is more of the same except that as much time is spent examining the players private lives as their performance on the court.

You want women in the WNBA to earn multi-million dollar salaries? Then you have to put up with baggage that in addition to the above includes dealing with the corruption that comes from having billions of dollars gambled on the games.

People need to stop for a moment and realize that ESPN gives them an opportunity to watch any wcbb tournamnt game from start to finish on-line. Yeah, the wraparound coverage can be frustrating but then I can remember having to listen to the mens games on radio. The complaining reminds me of a kid with a candy bar whining because they don't have an ice cream cone.

Don't bother. ESPN is laying off a LOT more employees this month. I'm sure drool moppers will be first to go.

Why would anyone in 2017 settle for "whiparound coverage?" Is that even a thing anymore?

That's a real head scratcher why anyone would even bring something like that up. There's this thing called the Internet now. Everyone with a paid TV subscription can take advantage of the WatchESPN app (or website) or use the ESPN 3 Kodi (SPMC) add-on, provided you log in with your credentials.

Why would anyone in 2017 settle for "whiparound coverage?" Is that even a thing anymore?

That's a real head scratcher why anyone would even bring something like that up. There's this thing called the Internet now. Everyone with a paid TV subscription can take advantage of the WatchESPN app (or website) or use the ESPN 3 Kodi (SPMC) add-on, provided you log in with your credentials.

yeah, if your internet provider provides a good enough connection and/or if ESPN provided a way to choose to get a lower res download to correlate with your connection. Neither of which is the way it is for me and I have the best internet available in my area which is in the boondocks. I can watch games broadcast by P12, CUSA, and many other providers as well as youtube, etc... but ESPN sputters, pauses for long periods of time, and sometimes simply stops...which makes it almost unwatchable. If I'm desperate to see a game on it, I will put up with the issues and continually re-start it...but it is an absolute pain in the butt. Since I can in fact watch games that are broadcast by others I assume it's an ESPN issue and because there are more of you who can see it than of me who can't, they don't give a shit.

It appears that DirecTV will be showing each individual NCAA Women's Tournament game in its entirety at channels 788-791 or thereabouts.

Saved from whiparound coverage!

Dish appears to be doing something as well (on 145-148) although it's not clear if it's every game since they also say you can get all the games by paying for ESPN Full Court on 462-465 (for $79). Too pricey for me so hoping I'll get at least some options on 145-148.

I think DirecTV stopped selling Full Court two or three years ago, so I think this is free, at least for sportspak subscribers.

DTV did this during the Olympic games and did not charge even if you fif not have the sport pac. Hope they don't charge for this I'll have to check unless someone finds out before I do and post it.

They show 4 channels for the 4 majors in golf, usually 2 channels of 2 or 3 people groups. In the 4 majors for tennis, they have 6 channels for different courts. I like it because I follow a few "middle tier" players.

I am not getting any of these extra channels! Seems like one must have Sportpack to get them! Has anyone without spartpack getting them?

It appears that DirecTV will be showing each individual NCAA Women's Tournament game in its entirety at channels 788-791 or thereabouts.

Saved from whiparound coverage!

Dish appears to be doing something as well (on 145-148) although it's not clear if it's every game since they also say you can get all the games by paying for ESPN Full Court on 462-465 (for $79). Too pricey for me so hoping I'll get at least some options on 145-148.

I think DirecTV stopped selling Full Court two or three years ago, so I think this is free, at least for sportspak subscribers.

DTV did this during the Olympic games and did not charge even if you fif not have the sport pac. Hope they don't charge for this I'll have to check unless someone finds out before I do and post it.

They show 4 channels for the 4 majors in golf, usually 2 channels of 2 or 3 people groups. In the 4 majors for tennis, they have 6 channels for different courts. I like it because I follow a few "middle tier" players.

I am not getting any of these extra channels! Seems like one must have Sportpack to get them! Has anyone without spartpack getting them?

It appears that DirecTV will be showing each individual NCAA Women's Tournament game in its entirety at channels 788-791 or thereabouts.

Saved from whiparound coverage!

Dish appears to be doing something as well (on 145-148) although it's not clear if it's every game since they also say you can get all the games by paying for ESPN Full Court on 462-465 (for $79). Too pricey for me so hoping I'll get at least some options on 145-148.

I think DirecTV stopped selling Full Court two or three years ago, so I think this is free, at least for sportspak subscribers.

DTV did this during the Olympic games and did not charge even if you fif not have the sport pac. Hope they don't charge for this I'll have to check unless someone finds out before I do and post it.

They show 4 channels for the 4 majors in golf, usually 2 channels of 2 or 3 people groups. In the 4 majors for tennis, they have 6 channels for different courts. I like it because I follow a few "middle tier" players.

I am not getting any of these extra channels! Seems like one must have Sportpack to get them! Has anyone without spartpack getting them?

Sort of similar to today's UConn-Albany game but tomorrow Ohio State-Kentucky is the only game at 12 but then you have 3 games around 2:30. WVU-Maryland, DePaul-Miss State, NC State-Texas. Why not move one of those games to 12 so its easier to follow both instead of having three games at once, which makes it hard to keep up with?

It appears that DirecTV will be showing each individual NCAA Women's Tournament game in its entirety at channels 788-791 or thereabouts.

Saved from whiparound coverage!

Dish appears to be doing something as well (on 145-148) although it's not clear if it's every game since they also say you can get all the games by paying for ESPN Full Court on 462-465 (for $79). Too pricey for me so hoping I'll get at least some options on 145-148.

I think DirecTV stopped selling Full Court two or three years ago, so I think this is free, at least for sportspak subscribers.

DTV did this during the Olympic games and did not charge even if you fif not have the sport pac. Hope they don't charge for this I'll have to check unless someone finds out before I do and post it.

They show 4 channels for the 4 majors in golf, usually 2 channels of 2 or 3 people groups. In the 4 majors for tennis, they have 6 channels for different courts. I like it because I follow a few "middle tier" players.

I am not getting any of these extra channels! Seems like one must have Sportpack to get them! Has anyone without spartpack getting them?

I'm getting them and I don't have Sportspack,

Do you have Direct TV or Dish.

Direct.

Edit: I may not be getting what I thought that I was. Just tried to get the Stanford New Mexico game and says I'm not subscribed.

Only game I'm getting is the L'ville/Chat. game. Yesterday, I got the Belmont/KY game. I'm not in a protected area for either game.

Last night, I thought that I recorded the FSU game, but now I see that I only got the DTV logo.

Guess I'll be happy with what I get. Would be nice to know ahead of time since I'm travelling and setting the recorder.

Edit: I may not be getting what I thought that I was. Just tried to get the Stanford New Mexico game and says I'm not subscribed.

Only game I'm getting is the L'ville/Chat. game. Yesterday, I got the Belmont/KY game. I'm not in a protected area for either game.

Last night, I thought that I recorded the FSU game, but now I see that I only got the DTV logo.

Guess I'll be happy with what I get. Would be nice to know ahead of time since I'm travelling and setting the recorder.

I got all 4 channels yesterday but today I'm only getting the L'ville/Chattanooga game as well. Plus, we lost our local CBS station with about 4 mins to go in the men's Notre Dame vs West VA matchup. As if I needed more reasons to dump DTV!! I seriously think they have gotten worse since the AT&T thing happened.

Edit: I may not be getting what I thought that I was. Just tried to get the Stanford New Mexico game and says I'm not subscribed.

Only game I'm getting is the L'ville/Chat. game. Yesterday, I got the Belmont/KY game. I'm not in a protected area for either game.

Last night, I thought that I recorded the FSU game, but now I see that I only got the DTV logo.

Guess I'll be happy with what I get. Would be nice to know ahead of time since I'm travelling and setting the recorder.

I got all 4 channels yesterday but today I'm only getting the L'ville/Chattanooga game as well. Plus, we lost our local CBS station with about 4 mins to go in the men's Notre Dame vs West VA matchup. As if I needed more reasons to dump DTV!! I seriously think they have gotten worse since the AT&T thing happened.

Thanks, when I read that there was trouble yesterday, I checked my channels. It had the order form on the cover. I called and asked them to check becasue it was free last year. After a long conversation the first lady told me it was for overflow games. I told her there won't be overflow because they are playing on the same floor. She said there was nothing else to do. After I hung up I opened my guide and on 209.1 "For extended WBB NCAA tourney coverage, please tune to channels 788-791." So I called back. I got a guy and told him thatI called earlier and I just read this and he did some checking. He told me it is included with the sports package. I would have to sign up for 3 months to get it and if I cancelled early, there was a fee. He did some manual things and gave me a credit and a date to cancel it so I won't have to pay the fine. I'm getting them all now.

To me it's the primary reason for having DirecTV. I can't hardly imagine a sports fan paying for DirecTV and not including all the regional sports channels, the specialized sports channels, and extra coverage like these tournament channels.

To me it's the primary reason for having DirecTV. I can't hardly imagine a sports fan paying for DirecTV and not including all the regional sports channels, the specialized sports channels, and extra coverage like these tournament channels.

If it wasn't for all the sports stuff, I'd probably switch to FiOS.

I think it's like 12.00 per month, and the cancellation fee was $10.00.